Contributor: John Keegan
Written by Zak Schwartz
Directed by Jamie Barber
Unlike the second season, where the final six episodes represented a regression into bad writing habits, the third season is coming to a rousing close. While the third season as a whole has been the best yet, despite the occasional stumble, this latest arc has easily been their most consistent effort.
Annie and Auggie finally have that beer and a talk, but it’s fairly clear that Auggie balked on the actual point of discussion he wanted to raise. Of all the ongoing threads since Annie’s rescue, this has probably been the most transparent; things were always going to be strung out until the season finale. Even so, their chemistry remains strong enough that one just doesn’t mind. It’s a great way to start the episode.
A big part of my enjoyment of this episode was Auggie’s storyline in Iraq. Some shows can lather on the praise for all things military to the point of excess (“Stargate SG-1” and “NCIS” immediately come to mind), but “Covert Affairs” has done a nice job of moderating that tendency. In this case, while the writers don’t stray from the message that our men and women in uniform are heroes for volunteering for military service, they focus far more on the psychological struggles that come with the territory.
I came away from those scenes with sense of enormous pride for the show, the cast, and everyone involved in shining a light on this subject. It’s amazing to me that it’s not the primary focus of homefront efforts, and so many of our soldiers and operatives end up struggling with depression and PTSD with few, if any, resources or assistance. Most assuredly, it’s not as easy as it had to be handled in this episode, but one could tell that it was a matter of personal investment for the cast. Certainly, Christopher Gorham was very vocal online about how much this episode meant to him.
There’s also the Annie/Eyal storyline, which continues to impress. Now that Eyal has “gone rogue”, Annie has a reason to trust his actions and motivations again. And now that Eyal isn’t playing a role for the Mossad operation, he can open up a bit with Annie and tell her what he really thinks of her empathy and operational approach. I’ve said it many times, but I’m surprised at how much I like Eyal now, given how much I disliked him before.
After all the build-up, we finally meet Khalid, and it represents a logical escalation. And sure enough, Eyal makes an apparent sacrifice play to save Annie and give her the chance to bring the mission to a proper close. And with Megan’s death, we see another stage of Annie’s growth as an agent. This season has taught her something she might have known intellectually, but hadn’t quite accepted: she can’t save everyone.
The only weakness of the episode, if that term applies, is the Arthur/Henry Wilcox subplot. While it could conceivably tie the entire season together, connecting Wilcox to the Khalid operation and the Mossad intrigue seems like an unnecessary complication. The story works just fine without it. In fact, I worry that this little detail will complicate the finale in ways that will detract from what could and should be a solid conclusion.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Score: 8/10
